What did the disciples mean when they asked Jesus on the Mount of Olives if He was restoring the kingdom?
They meant that they expected Jesus to establish His earthly Kingdom and immediately assign them their promised places of authority—sitting on twelve thrones and ruling the twelve tribes of Israel under Him. They were asking whether the time had now come to take up their thrones, not whether the Kingdom itself was true.
Les teaches that the disciples were just as human as we are, and when Jesus earlier promised they would sit on twelve thrones and rule the twelve tribes of Israel under Him, it stuck with them. So on the Mount of Olives, that same promise was on their minds: they were asking if He was now ready to put them in their respective places of authority over the twelve tribes and to take up their thrones. Les notes that Jesus did not refute their idea of a coming Kingdom at all; He only said the time was not for them to know. The Father alone knows the exact hour, day, and year these prophetic things will happen; angels do not know, and in His earthly ministry even God the Son did not know.